A multitalented and multifaceted artist, Siddharth Suryanarayan, better known by his screen name Siddharth is an actor, singer, screenplay writer and producer who works predominantly in the Tamil film industry as well as Telugu, Malayalam and Bollywood cinema. Often described as one of the few actors in India with a pan-Indian appeal, Siddharth is one of the most sought after actors in Tamil cinema. The actor who set out to become a director and writer, he has been part of several hit movies like
Boys
(2003), Aaytha Ezhuthu (2004),
Rang De Basanti (2006),
Jigarthanda (2014),
Kaaviya Thalaivan (2014), and
Aranmanai 2 (2016).
Early Life
Born in a typical Tamil family in Chennai, Siddharth Suryanaryanan is the son of Mr. Suryanarayanan. He has two siblings, a brother named Jayendra and a sister named Sandhya. The actor went to different schools, he first went to DAV Boys` Senior Secondary School, Chennai and later completed his schooling from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Delhi. After finishing his schooling, Siddharth obtained his graduation degree in Commerce from Kirori Mal College, New Delhi and later pursued Masters in Business Administration from S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai.
Siddharth knew that he had to make a career in the film industry from a very young age; he had a penchant particularly for writing and direction. His first tryst with working in the entertainment industry came as he was roped to dub for a mosquito repellent advertisement in 1998. While he was living in Delhi, the actor for a while pursued amateur theater and performed at live stage shows and was associated with the theater group called players.
Before making his debut as an actor, Siddharth worked as an apprentice with the popular ad filmmaker
Jayendra and the stalwart cinematographer
P.C. Sreeram both of who not only helped him hone his writing and direction skills but also got him a break to work as an assistant director to
Mani Ratnam for
Kannathil Muthamittal (2002).
Personal Life
Siddharth married his long-time friend Meghna, who he grew up with in Delhi in November 2003. However, the marriage did not last long and after living together for four years, the couple divorced in January 2007.
Movie Career
As an Actor
After Siddharth assisted him for a while, director
Mani Ratnam encouraged him to attend the audition for director Shankar`s youth-centric, coming-of-age Tamil film
Boys (2003) for which he was looking to cast fresh faces. Siddharth took his mentor`s advice and bagged his first role as the lead actor along with other newcomers, viz.
Bharath, Nakul, and
Genelia D`Souza Deshmukh. The film, which was one of the most expensive South Indian films made at that time got mixed critical reviews and Siddharth for his brilliant performance won ITFA Best New Actor Award. After the much success of his debut film, the actor next collaborated with director
Mani Ratnam for his Tamil anthology political drama Aayatha Ezhuthu (2004) co-starring
Suriya Sivakumar,
R. Madhavan,
Meera Jasmine,
Trisha Krishnan and
Esha Deol. The film was simultaneously shot in Hindi as
Yuva with a completely different cast barring Deol. The film performed fairly well at the box office and was well received by the critics.
In 2005, the actor made his debut in the Telugu film industry with the super hit
Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor - Telugu. The following year, the actor made his foray in the Bollywood industry with the drama
Rang De Basanti directed by
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. The film where he played the roles of a college student named Karan Singhania also featured
Aamir Khan,
Alice Patten,
R. Madhavan,
Kunal Kapoor,
Soha Ali Khan,
Sharman Joshi and
Atul Kulkarni in pivotal roles. It received critical acclaim, especially for its strong dialogues and screenplay and emerged to be blockbuster. The film also won Siddharth several laurels including the Screen Award for Best Male Debut and nominations at the Filmfare, Zee Cine Award and IIFA Award for Best Male Debut Award and Star Debut of the Year - Male. Siddharth rounded off the year with yet another award winning performance with
Bommarillu, which won him a Filmfare Award for Best Actor - Telugu.
Post-2006, the actor mainly focused on working in Telugu cinema and starred in films like Aata (2007),
Oye! (2009),
Anaganaga O Dheerudu (2011), and
Love Failure (2011). In 2013, acclaimed director
Deepa Mehta roped in Siddharth,
Shriya Saran,
Satya Bhabha,
Shabana Azmi,
Ronit Roy,
Anupam Kher, Sahana Goswami,
Rahul Bose,
Seema Biswas and
Samrat Chakrabarti for her 2012 film
Midnight`s Children, which was based on the novel of the same name by Salman Rushdie. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival as well as at the BFI London Film Festival.
Later in the same year, the actor starred in the Bollywood comedy
Chashme Baddoor directed by
David Dhawan. The film, which is the remake of the 1981 classic of the same name also stars
Ali Zafar,
Taapsee Pannu,
Divyendu Sharma in important roles. The film was not only commercially successful but also a commercial hit. The actor continued his good run with successful films with yet another hit
Jigarthanda, a Tamil black comedy-crime film directed by
Karthik Subbaraj. The film starring
Bobby Simha,
Lakshmi Menon, and
Karunakaran grossed 35 crore INR at the box office and Siddharth for his stellar performance won the Norway Tamil Film Awards for Best Actor and a nomination at the SIIMA Awards for Best Actor.
2014 was one of the most successful years in Siddharth`s career as both his releases,
Jigarthanda and
Kaaviya Thalaivan were both commercial and critical hits. And both the movies won him the Norway Tamil Film Awards for Best Actor. In 2016, the actor collaborated with director
Sundar C for the Tamil comedy horror
Aranmanai 2, which is the stand-alone sequel to the 2014 movie of the same name. The film also features
Trisha Krishnan,
Hansika Motwani,
Sundar C,
Soori, Manobala and
Kovai Sarala in pivotal roles. His 2017 releases include Shaitan Ka Bachcha, a Tamil action comedy directed by
Karthik G. Krish and Kammara Sambhavam, a Malayalam film directed by Rathish Ambat. His 2019 releases include Sivappu Manjal Pachai and Vadaladu.
As a Producer
Apart from being a successful actor, Siddharth is also an accomplished producer. After making his production debut with
Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi (2012), he subsequently produced
Jil Jung Juk, an Indian neo-noir post-apocalyptic black comedy.
As a Playback Singer
The actor-cum-producer, Siddharth is also a talented playback singer; he has sung several tracks across Tamil, Telugu and Hindi-language films. He made his debut as a singer with the Telugu film Chukkallo Chandrudu (2006) where he sang two tracks, `Everybody` and `Edhalo Epudo`. In 2008, Siddharth sang the superhit track, `Adada Adada`, in Santosh Subramaniam (2008), which is picturized on Jayam Ravi. His other popular films for which he has sung includes NH4 (2013),
Enakkul Oruvan (2014),
Jil Jung Juk (2016).